I know I still haven’t been posting a lot, but I’ve got a pretty big bone to pick about a post going around, namely with this sudden need to twist Thomas’ character around (and Flint’s). So I’m gonna, because my last fucks have flown away.

1. First of all… Thomas is a colonizer? What exactly was Thomas supposed to do? It’s said “well he never advocated for giving the island back to the original people who lived there,” but how on earth do you think he should have done that when it’s not even “his island” to begin with (that would be his father as the one with the “title”)? And all the actual colonizing took place long before? He didn’t even have true political authority, it was all his father’s. Working through the system with the little authority he had to improve things is not the same thing. That was even a theme throughout the show (is it better to work in the system how you can or fight the war)

2. Let’s say he rebelled, did the Flint thing, and started a war to take the island back that way. Everyone would be tearing him down for being a murderer who wanted to fight an impossible war and try to discredit him, same as is being done to Flint lately.

3. He wanted to gentrify the island? So somehow, stepping in to say “hey let’s not kill the pirates, let’s try to help them and get them on their feet instead because they don’t deserve to die” is somehow the same as wanting to just kill and hang them all? Supporting the locals who are already there and wanting to help them get on their feet is gentrifying?? Seriously?

4. I’ve seen it said “his plan was never to end slavery or bring down the empire.” Pretty big assumption to be making, considering it was never said one way or another whether he wanted slavery ended or not. Bringing down the empire? See points 1 and 2.

5. Yes, Thomas was privileged, but he was also marginalized as a gay/bi man (you can be privileged in some ways and marginalized in others, they do not cancel each other out). And honestly? I find this new trend towards twisting things to make Flint and Thomas on the same level of intent as their oppressors really disturbing. I’m not talking about legitimate criticisms of their actions, I’m talking about this need to twist them around make them worse in the name of making other characters seem better. It doesn’t matter if other characters have done bad things, or even worse things, that doesn’t take away or change someone else having done bad things and doesn’t make what they did any better.

6. And lastly, do not come at me with the whole “you’re woobifying Thomas!!” because I have been fighting the war for three years for people to stop seeing Thomas as a saint and will gladly give examples. I don’t even want to hear it.

you-know-what-those-men-fear-right-now-its-the) You’re just a bunch of stupid cunts who can’t see that you wouldn’t have you ship if it wasn’t for Silver. Stop demonizing Silver, Flint murdered people and you still love him.

hamiltonthomas:

I’m confused!? It’s literally an anti-slavery gifset!? [link] If you think I’m ‘demonizing’ Silver by giffing canon events, maybe it speaks more of his actions than about how I feel about him? I don’t even hate him, but I’m sure as hell not happy about James and Thomas being enslaved. Which is exactly what my gifset is about.

Also, damn right that I love James. I’m capable of loving him without defending murder. It would be nice if you could love Silver without defending slavery.

Also, ‘thanks’ for calling me a name for female genitalia. If you’d bothered to read my profile you would have seen that I think gender is bullshit and doesn’t really apply to me. In the words of Toby: “Go fuck yourself with your massive balls, Mike.” Oh right, you don’t have any or you wouldn’t call people ‘cunt’ on anon, so just go fuck yourself.

Silver fans – it’s my birthday, and frankly, I’m not up for this shit fest. If you know who fucking sent this – I don’t think it’s all that hard to grasp that this is not ok. Take out your fucking trash, preferably leave it on someone else’s curb even, it’s that putrid.

hamiltonthomas:

PLEASE stop defending fictional abuse just because you like the character. It’s fine to like them anyway. They’re just a fictional character. However, the people on the other side of the screen are real and have often experienced abuse themselves.

I understand that it’s all a bit greyscale in a show about pirates, but as someone who suffered abuse and still gets anxiety attacks from it, I would like to ask you all to stop defending it and insulting actual abuse survivors. It’s triggering to see people arguing how multiple death threats or taking away someone’s basic human rights aren’t abusive. It’s okay to love a character who is abusive but it’s not okay to bully people who don’t. Don’t tell them that they’re morons for not liking a character who reminds them of their abusers. Don’t tell them that they’re wrong and should fuck off when they call a character who (amongst other things) tried to kill another character multiple times, but ended up enslaving him instead, abusive. Like whatever character you want, but don’t disparage people who don’t. They’re real people with feelings. Why would you resort to insulting them and dismissing their experiences just because you want to defend a fictional character? You can love the character without insulting people who don’t, and if you seriously think that it’s okay to bully others over the way they see a ficational character, you need to get a fucking grip on reality.

Just few points because I’m quite perplexed atm and a little scared for, well, how the things are going in the fandom. I’m so sad to see this ‘war’ between flinthamilton’s and silverflint’s fan and I am because they’re not rival ships. And sure every one in the fandom is free to dislike a character, to not share or forgive his decisions but misintepret a character like john silver is simply unfair. Now you could not reply to this but I hope you did and help your ‘side’ to choose a middleway

comtessedebussy:

I’m going to respond to this ask under the assumption that you do really want a “middle way” and aren’t looking to add fuel to the fire, anon. So here’s what I have to say:

I think it’s really, really disingenuous to pretend that this is about some kind of ship war, and I think it’s highly problematic to claim that someone that I’m “unfairly misinterpreting” a character as a way to silence me.

What middle way would you like exactly, anon? Would you like to have an actual discussion about John Silver’s choices and motivations, based on the text of the canon? Because I’m under the impression that that’s the discussion I’ve been having. I haven’t been coming to other people’s posts to yell about how much he sucks. I’ve been looking at the text of the canon to interpret his decisions and provide my perspectives on them. If that’s a misinterpretation, in your opinion, then you can go to the post and provide a counterargument, or evidence to the contrary, and have an actual discussion. But coming to my ask, claiming I’m misinterpreting the character, and then painting the whole thing as a ship war is, again, disingenuous. And I’m going to say this: there is a really, really harmful tendency in fandom lately to confuse discussion with hate and wank. I am interested in having a discussion about the canon, and my dislike of Silver is based on my interpretation of his actions in the canon. I tag that dislike so you can avoid it, even though I personally think it’s a valid interpretation of the canon. But I’ve been told that I should just shut up and not say anything about him. I’ve been told to stay out of the main tag when I am, again, trying to have a discussion about this goddamn show. And frankly, I’m starting to get pissed off, because certain people seem to think that any critique of their fave character, even based on canon, is somehow hate and wank and a personal attack. It’s really, really not. I’m not the one going around calling people purity fetish morons, or gremlins, or making replies to their posts that say nothing more than “this post is ridiculous” or “this is so dumb” or harassing people who have explicitly or calling them ableist. (and yes, all of those things have happened to me)

In fact, the fact that you think I belong to a particular “side” over which I have some kind of influence is really telling. Sure, I ship certain things and not others, and I have opinions on certain characters that I share with friends in the fandom, but, again, you’re the one who’s putting this in terms of sides, and more than that, sides based on ships. I’m personally frustrated that instead of actually looking at the goddamn text, people seem to be justifying a certain character’s choices based on their own ship preferences.

And, lastly, and just out of curiosity, have you also sent this message to people who hate on, say, Thomas Hamilton? Cause there’s plenty of hate for him as well. Because I happen to know you sent this to at least two people who have been critical of John Silver’s choices, and it would be really disingenuous if you didn’t do the same to the other so-called “side.”